Where to find wheel bearings?

[Ron Coleman]

Re: Where to find wheel bearings?

Here is how I replace bearing housings and races in Indian motorcycle engines, aluminum wheels, and other similar mechanisms.
Gather a thick soft cloth (towel) a pair of oven mitts, a double boiler, and some cloth to cover the double boiler with.
Locate a place to work with a sturdy table or bench.
Degrease the wheel. Do it right!
Place the wheel half in the boiler with the bearing race face up. Close the boiler, turn it on between 175 F. and 250 F. and cover it with a cloth to keep the heat in. You can do this with the bearing race faced down, but sometimes the race won't fall clear free and will cock and jam and you will have to push it on out.
Allow the wheel to heat soak for 25 to 30 minutes.
Now put on the oven mitts, open the boiler and quickly lift the wheel out and drop it down on the soft towel with a little force and the bearing race will fall out. Turn the wheel back upright and put it back in the boiler and drop the new race in the wheel (be sure the proper side is up the same way the old one was). It will help if the race had been left in the freezer overnight or cooled with dry ice for a couple of hours. The race should drop in easily, if not press it down with a broom handle or other kind of wooden rod.
Close the boiler and let it cool before you take the wheel out.
If the wheel is worn out by forcing the races in and out, don't peen over the edge (or drill and pin). That is a sure way to start a crack. Instead, if the hole is not out of round or grossly oversized, use the proper Loctite product and glue the race in place (follow the directions). If the wheel had folded over, punched, or peened, file away any traces of the cracking and smooth the edge properly.

[Karl Rigdon]

Re: Where to find wheel bearings?

In a former lifetime I was a Industrial Electrician and had many problems removing bearing races from the end bells of motors. As it has been stated in the eairler post we would use a arc welder to run a bead 1/4 to 1/3 of the inside of the cup then turn the end bell over and wait for the cup to drop.

[Ron Coleman]

Re: Where to find wheel bearings?

Running a welding bead is an especially effective way to remove a race from a iron or steel body or one which has a bronze retainer. Striking an iron or steel case with an arc by accident is no big deal, but it can be a disaster on an aluminum wheel. It is tough to burnish out an arc burn on aluminum.

Another problem with arcing a race out of an aluminum casting is that when the race is heated suddenly to arcing tempertatures the race expands rapidly before the aluminum casting can expand. That puts a lot of pressure on the aluminum and can cause a spider web of tiny cracks on the surface of the casting and can swedge the hole larger. The race falls out of the hole partlly because the steel shrinks as it cools to a size slightly smaller that it was to start with, and the hole has been swedged slightly larger.

Or so I have observed.

Ron C
N96995

[rdwater]

Re: Where to find wheel bearings?

Well - I promised to get back with the success story. All new bearings are in. Removal was easy for three (two outers and one inner) - they were pried out easily with a screwdriver and no marks were left. The fourth (second inner) received a bead of MIG weld around the inner face and fell out with tapping of the inner half of the wheel on concrete. Motion Industries supplied the parts - $110 total for four bearings and four races. They were great to work with. Thanks to all for your suggestions. Bob